Linda from Boonville, New York, grew up puzzled when her Kentucky grandmother promised to be there directly. In much Southern speech, directly can mean “presently,” “soon,” or “soon enough but not right away,” rather than “immediately.” The...
A second-generation Mexican-American wonders how much the English language is being influenced by Spanish, especially after a misunderstanding when he turned to his date in the passenger seat and asked if she wanted to “get down.” This...
What do you call that jarring sensation when you see a radio personality for the first time, and he looks nothing like what you expected? The hosts talked about it in a past episode. Listeners responded with more words for this phenomenon. This is...
Many of the world’s languages apparently derived from a prehistoric common ancestor known as Indo-European. But since no one ever wrote down a word of it, how do we know what it was like?
Why are the names of cars so unimaginative? Grant argues that auto manufacturers might take inspiration from ornithology to build a better car name. (Then again, would you be any less aggravated if you were rear-ended by a lazuli bunting?) Also this...
In this week’s installment of “Slang This!,” a member of the National Puzzlers League tries to separate the real slang terms from the impostors from a list that includes: bacne, button cotton, snake check, and filter filter. This...